Increasing cruise interest in Southern Africa
Royal Caribbean are now looking at the Southern African region as a largely unexplored as a cruise destination.
The cruise industry has proved resilient in the global economic downturn but the Sub Saharan area of Africa accounts for less than 1 percent of the global cruise liner market, beeing held back because many of these countries lack the infrastructure and facilities to showcase their attractions.
Mansoor Mohamed, chairman of South Africa’s government-backed cruise liner steering committee said:
‘The Indian Ocean and sub-Saharan Africa offers the sea and safari experience when nobody else can offer it. It is our belief that very little infrastructure is required in order to realise the full potential of cruise liner tourism for the sub-Saharan region,’ he said. Port cities such as Cape Town could make use of multi-purpose berth facilities instead of having a dedicated cruise liner berth for passengers to disembark.”
Tags: south africa